Intel Atom Oak Trail, Canoe Lake and super-skinny netbook design revealed [Video]

Intel's latest Atom plans have been revealed at Computex 2010, and unsurprisingly the company are looking to tablets along with netbooks.  Intel Atom "Oak Trail" is the tablet and ultra-sleek netbook platform, a SoC designed for fanless devices with extended battery life and 1080p HD video, while the "Canoe Lake" innovation platform takes the new Pine Trail N Atom CPUs – with their boosted performance but frugal power requirements – pairs them with DDR3 memory and squeezes them into "razor-thin" netbooks like the 14mm thick dual-core machine teased last month.Video overview after the cut

That netbook – said to be the thinnest in the world – won't be arriving on shelves in its current form, but Intel are hoping the Canoe Lake platform will spur on some eye-catching products from their manufacturing partners.  The platform supports single- and dual-core CPUs, allows for fanless designs and 50-percent thinner netbooks than before.  Intel will be shipping the new Atom CPUs in time for the holiday season later this year.

As for Oak Trail, that promises up to a 50 percent reduction in average power consumption with full HD-video playback and support for Windows 7, MeeGo and Google OSes.  It pairs Lincroft and Whitney Point, supports HDMI outputs and is 40-percent smaller than current Menlow chips.  Expect it to show up in fanless HD-capable tablets – like ASUS' new Eee Pad, perhaps – at the start of 2011.

Press Release:

Computex: Ambitious Intel® Atom™ Processor Plans, Products Outlined

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Intel highlighted new product plans for Intel® Atom™ processor family: "Pine Trail" mobile dual-core and "Oak Trail" processors optimized for tablets and sleek netbook form factors.

Disclosed razor-thin "Canoe Lake" innovation platform – a futuristic dual-core netbook measuring in at 14 millimeters – the world's thinnest netbook.

Demonstrated cross-device experiences based on Intel's unique 'port of choice' software strategy including Windows*, MeeGo* and Google operating systems.

Outlined expansion: Future System on a Chip (SoC) Intel® Atom™ processors scale to deliver PC-like computing platforms for cars, smartphones, handhelds, TVs, tablets, on a choice of software.

COMPUTEX, Taipei, June 1, 2010 – At Computex today, Intel Corporation unveiled new products and features based on its low-power Intel® Atom™ processor family, including plans to further differentiate the popular netbook category and expand into several new market segments beyond its growing PC, laptop and server businesses.

In the past 45 days, Intel and its Atom™ processor has entered a variety of markets beyond the more than 50 million Intel-based netbooks sold in the past 2 years. Intel announced a processor and MeeGo* software win with Chinese carmaker HawTai Automobile for a future in-vehicle-infotainment platform; a greater than 50-times lower platform idle power reduction with Intel's next generation Atom™ processor platform for handheld devices including smartphones; and a collaboration with Google*, Sony* and Logitech* to deliver a new Smart TVs experience powered by Intel Atom™ CE products and running Android*-based Google TV*.

Intel recently unveiled the future System on Chip (SoC) Atom™-based "Tunnel Creek" that, for the first time, will allow other companies to connect their own custom silicon to Intel's SoC product. The Intel® Atom™ processor also powers the Intel® Reader, and the company has received more than 3,000 non-PC design inquiries – most new-to-Intel potential customers – ranging from fish finders to golf carts.

During his keynote, David (Dadi) Perlmutter, executive vice president and co-general manager, Intel Architecture Group, touched on these and other Intel efforts, which included showing off the world's thinnest netbook running on the upcoming mobile dual-core "Pine Trail." At just 14mm, the razor-thin "Canoe Lake" innovation platform runs cooler and is 50 percent thinner than any other netbook consumers can find on the market today. In addition, Perlmutter showed a range of other Intel® Atom™-based devices spanning energy efficient blade servers, retailing systems, presentation projectors and multiple tablets.

"Intel believes the strength of the Atom™ franchise can help consumers realize the true potential for a common experience to enable the compute continuum," said Perlmutter. "With platforms ranging from compact and portable netbooks, to Smart TV experiences and innovative tablets designs, Intel Architecture is driving innovative products based on a unique 'port of choice' software strategy."

Keynote Highlights

Citing a million PCs sold a day1, Perlmutter also highlighted the momentum around the all new 2010 Intel® Core™ processor family, including Intel® Wireless Display and an overview of next-generation Intel® Core™ processors using the Intel microarchitecture codenamed "Sandy Bridge," targeted to be in production late 2010.

Renee James, senior vice president and general manager of the Software and Services Group at Intel, joined Perlmutter onstage to discuss how software – and software choice – will help drive Intel's vision for Atom™ and a cross-device experience. This provides consumers consistency and accessibility to their content on a choice of computers and PC-like devices. James also announced that Asus will be the first OEM to ship a pre-installed, customized AppUp client called "asus app store" on netbooks this fall, beginning with Windows and following with MeeGo*-based systems.

Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci discussed with Perlmutter how future Intel® Atom™-based netbooks and tablets from Acer, running the MeeGo* software platform, will foster an open ecosystem of innovation.

"Acer will be ready with MeeGo-based mobile devices," said Lanci. "MeeGo's open software platform will present our customers with another choice of a friendly, easy-to-use operating system. We are pleased to collaborate with Intel in our continuous drive to provide effortless technologies that empower people at work, home – anytime, anywhere."

New Intel® Atom™ Processors on Tap

In production now and on shelves before the winter holiday season, mobile dual-core Intel® Atom™ processors will deliver a noticeably snappier, more responsive consumer experience in the same compact form factors, and with the same great battery life. Intel® Atom™ processors N455 and N475 with DDR3 support for netbooks are available today and D525 and D425 for entry-level desktop PCs are expected to be available on June 21. Available to customers in early 2011, "Oak Trail" is our upcoming SoC Intel® Atom™ platform optimized for sleek tablet and netbook designs, delivering up to a 50 percent reduction in average power consumption with full HD-video playback and targeting software choice including MeeGo*, Windows* 7 and Google operating systems.